The Legion of Freedom for Russia, a group that has claimed responsibility for several incursions into Russian territory, including the most recent one, has promised “exciting things” in the run-up to the March 17 presidential election that will give Vladimir Putin a new mandate.

Armed militants who say they are Russian citizens and oppose the Kremlin said they launched cross-border incursions into western Russia from Ukraine on Tuesday using tanks, but Moscow said it had repelled the attacks.

Ukraine said the groups acted independently. But many believed that the cross-border raids, carried out days before Russia’s presidential election and a little more than two years after Moscow’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine, were supported by Kyiv.

“This is only the first day (of the operation). But, as you know, the elections are only at the end of the week… The most interesting things are ahead,” said spokesman Oleksiy Baranovskyi. Legion of Freedom Russia”.

The group said it had taken full control of the village of Tetkino, on the outskirts of Russia’s Kursk region on the border with Ukraine, and released footage, apparently taken by a drone, showing several soldiers running across a field.

What is the purpose of the group “Freedom for Russia”.

Baranovsky told Reuters in a Zoom call from an undisclosed location that the bulk of the forces involved in the operation were in Kursk Oblast.

According to him, the attack could force Russia to withdraw reserves here to protect the territory, weakening Russia’s offensive pressure on Ukrainian troops in eastern Ukraine.

“We divert the reserves, the attention of the Russian army. They are forced to transfer reserves… this is also our contribution to the defense of Ukraine,” he said.

The group said it destroyed a Russian armored personnel carrier and that it carried out cross-border raids in conjunction with two other Ukraine-based groups, the Russian Volunteer Corps and the Siberian Battalion.

The Russian news agency TASS reported with reference to the local governor that one person was injured in Tetkino as a result of Ukrainian shelling.

The Ministry of Defense of Russia said that they defeated the attackers and forced them to retreat.

“About 3:00 am Moscow time, after intensive shelling of civilian objects, Ukrainian terrorist formations using tanks and armored vehicles attempted to invade the territory of the Russian Federation,” the Russian Ministry of Defense said in a statement.

“All attacks of the Ukrainian Armed Forces were repelled by selfless actions of the Russian military. The enemy launched strikes from aviation, missile forces and artillery,” he added.

Four more attacks by Ukrainian “sabotage-reconnaissance groups” were repelled approximately five hours later in the Kursk region.

Belgorod and Kursk regions were also attacked by Ukrainian drones in the afternoon, one drone fell on the building of the Belgorod city administration, two people were injured, the governor of the region reported.